US states carry out first executions since botched lethal injection in Oklahoma

Marcus Wellons in Georgia and John Winfield in Missouri executed after
last-minute appeals denied in first by lethal injections since Clayton
Lockett died in 43-minute agony in April

Marcus Wellons, left, and John Winfield were executed by lethal injection Photo: AP

By AFP

8:23AM BST 18 Jun 2014

US states overnight Tuesday carried out the first two executions since a botched lethal injection in Oklahoma in April, after last minute appeals were denied.

One execution was in Georgia and the other in Missouri. Both were also by lethal injection.

In the first of them, Marcus Wellons, 58, convicted of the 1989 kidnapping, rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl, was put to death shortly before midnight in the southern state of Georgia, a spokesman for the prison system said.

A death penalty opponent protests in Georgia (AP)

In the second case, John Winfield, 43, convicted of killing two women, was executed in the central state of Missouri, state prison system spokesman Mike O’Connell said.